My 1.8 20v non turbo, needs a boost, please help?

[apos6250]

I have just bought a mk4 20v non-turbo 125bhp golf, the car is great nice ride, iv had it lowered 35mm,fitted a fast road clutch, and im about to get the cat removed and have a large bore free flow exhaust fitted, However i cant help but feel disapointed by its performance, theres not a lot of go down in the rev range you really have to keep them high to get it to go, i have looked at super chips and they claim they can give me 9bhp for £350, welll with me being a tight sod i would like to get the most for my money, and try and get some power lower down, Does anyone have any magic reciepes for these engines, without having to take out a bank loan? Im look forward to getting some info Thanks.

[Ivor Mk4 Turbo]

Mate, I've said this a few times, & mean it in the best possible way.  I really think you're best off hanging onto your cash.  N/A lumps need a lot of cash thrown at them to make them powerful/quick (& for an 1800 engine, your starting off at a low bhp figure of 125, as it is).  £350 is a lot for 9 bhp (which I don't think you'd realistically get, BTW).

To put it into perspective, £450ish on a 150 Turbo can get you an extra 45-75 bhp depending on engine code/lateness.

[apos6250]

Thanks for getting back to me, i was afraid it would be bad news as there doesn't seem to be a lot on the market for these, can you elaborate on the turbo £450?. Do you mean i could fit a turbo to my car for this kind of cash? If so do you know Who to contact with regards to this, many thanks.

[Stu-1.8T]

He means that if you had bought a Turbo instead of the the naturally aspirated car, you could get the ECU re-mapped to boost the power from 150bhp to over 200 odd for around £500.00.

Dont know how much it would cost to fit a Turbo to your car, but my guess would be shed loads of dosh.

[Ivor Mk4 Turbo]

Sorry - What Stu said ^^^^

[Dizzie]

fitting a turbo to a N/A 20v lump is an insane idea, just buy a 20vT in the first place and save on the money and stress

[monzablue16v]

Great answer Diz I was told never build a car you can buy! sell it and get a 20vT!

[kniterider]

looked into this when i had my non turb 20v 1.8 mk4 gti... got it lookin the nads with coil overs, audi wheels and alsorts.. but power was a no go.. espesh afgter me cambelt tensioner failed and stuffed the engine...

honestly dude, if the car aint on finance, or if it is take a bank loan out and pay it off and take extra to put with the car and px it for a turbo.. youll always be wondering why you didnt...

i got rid of mine as much as i loved it, but they have got inferior brakes, engines and gearboxes compared with the turbo model and you have to spend plenty to even try to tune em up, chips, exhausts and filters wont do alot...

if you had a bit of knowledge and peeps that knew there stuff you could get the engine to run fitting a mk2 16v dizzy, some twin 40/45 carbs, tubular manifold, and some decent cams you could probs get 170bhp ish, but to cost would out do the pros....

miss mine to bits for the way it drove, the colour, and wheels, but after 8 months of not havin a dub a jap stuff insted, my ebay £510 bargin mk3 vr6 drives better than my mk4 did.. (other than handling.. you dont buy coilovers and uprated antiroll bars for nothing...) but power wise....

 

lol

[Dizzie]

Gaz, you can't fit a dizzy to a 20v lump as there's no where to put it. you could easily use a coil pack like they use in peugeots and then HT leads fed of DTA management, etc. Either that or just have a remap at the end which would sort out all the sparks and squirts and keep the coil packs (if they use them).

[kniterider]

not being funny dizzie, but cause you work at a vw dealer ship you dont know all mate....

you can get a dizzy to fit, it has been done, check on vw vortex.. i did my research when i had the car me self probs alot more than many others have, and it can be done...

the internet is there to be read...